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Boulder motorcyclists ride across Nepal only to donate their bikes

By John Spina

Staff Writer

Posted:
02/16/2019 01:03:32 PM MST

Updated:
02/18/2019 08:30:21 AM MST

Asher Woolverton of Broomfield, above, along with Josh Morin of Niwot, are among 15 adventure riders from around the world who will join the Rally for Rangers Project to bring much-needed motorcycles and outdoor equipment to park rangers battling poachers in the Chitwan National Park in Nepal. (Asher Woolverton / Courtesy photo)

This November, 15 adventure riders from around the world will join the Rally for Rangers Project to bring desperately needed motorcycles and outdoor equipment to park rangers battling poachers in the Chitwan National Park in Nepal.

Two of those riders, Josh Morin of Niwot and Asher Woolverton of Broomfield, will represent the Boulder area amongvolunteers from Mongolia, Russia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Germany, Denmark and Lebanon.

The Rally for Rangers Project began in 2013 when Robert McIntosh, a former U.S. National Park ranger, volunteered with the Mongol Ecology Center at Lake Hovsgol National Park. While they were reviewing the park's planning documents the park's chief ranger, Enkhtaivan, got a call over his radio reporting an illegal campsite discovered on park lands nearby. McIntosh watched in dismay as Enkhtaivan jumped on his motorcycle and tore off in pursuit — only to have his bike immediately break down.

When Mcintosh asked him what had happened, Enkhtaivan told him their outdated bikes broke down all the time, hindering their ability to keep up with illegal poachers, miners and campers across the vast territory they're tasked with protecting.

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As a former park ranger himself, McIntosh understood Enkhtaivan's frustration and promised that he would not only buy Enkhtaivan a new bike when he got back to the states, but also ride it more than 1,000 miles across Mongolia so he could personally deliver it to him.

Now in its fifth year, Rally for Rangers recruits roughly 30 motorcyclists from around the world each year to raise $10,000 for a new bike and drive it to remote national parks for delivery. So far, the project has donated 75 motorcycles to nine national parks in three countries. The trip to Nepal will be the group's first for 2019.

Despite being somewhat nervous about the arduous journey over remote Himalayan roads, for Morin, a former lifeguard at the Assateague Island National Seashore, — who also served in the Peace Corps for two years in Nepal — the chance to help rangers better protect national parks in Nepal is as good a cause as any.

"I can remember when I was a lifeguard, we got a call about a drowning and I had to hop on the four-wheeler, which had all of our oxygen and first responder equipment on it, to respond to a guy who had a heart attack in the surf," Morin said.

"We had to administer CPR, used the oxygen administration equipment, intubated him, defibrillated him and by the time he got the ambulance he was actually talking. It just speaks to how getting life-saving equipment to someone in a really fast way helps save lives."

For the rangers in Chitwan National Park, however, the new motorcycles will more likely save the life of an endangered Bengal tiger or rhinoceros from illegal poachers rather than a human.

Woolverton said this mission to help to protect endangered species and wild spaces in Nepal will be a kind of pilgrimage with a motorcycle.

"There's something spiritual about being able to do this," he said." There is some sacrifice — it's not inexpensive and it will take quite a bit of time to raise the money and deliver the bike — so it feels like a gift more than just a trip. And I know it will be appreciated."

Tom Medema, a co-founder of Rally for Rangers, felt just how appreciated the gesture was when he met one of the ranger's family during a Rally for Rangers trip to Mongolia. They told him the new bike and outdoor equipment would not only keep him safer, but that by being able to do his job more efficiently, it also would mean he could spend more time with his family.

"The beauty of these rallies is that they really enrich the lives of each rider," Medema said. "They become ambassadors for this place after seeing what these people are going through firsthand and go on to recruit new riders to keep this thing growing."

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